TCEQ toxicologist recognized for researchThursday, April 7, 2016 -- Prestigious international group selects two papers about chromium risks by Joseph Haneyhttp://tceq.info/news/releases/tceq-toxicologist-recognized-for-researchhttp://tceq.info/@@site-logo/tceqlogo-3colors.gif

TCEQ toxicologist recognized for research

Thursday, April 7, 2016 -- Prestigious international group selects two papers about chromium risks by Joseph Haney

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ContactAndrew KeesePhone512-239-0060After Hrs512-695-8072

The Society of Toxicology, a distinguished international association, recently recognized two papers by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality toxicologist Joseph “Kip” Haney as among the best of peer-reviewed risk assessment research published in 2015.

The society, which is dedicated to furthering the science of toxicology and has members in more than 60 countries, picked two of Haney’s chromium research papers. They were part of a group of 10 outstanding papers demonstrating an application of risk assessment. The studies by Haney, who was the sole author of each, include “Consideration of non-linear, non-threshold and threshold approaches for assessing the carcinogenicity of oral exposure to hexavalent chromium,” which was published in the December 2015 edition of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, and “Use of dose-dependent absorption into target tissues to more accurately predict cancer risk at low oral doses of hexavalent chromium,” which was published in the February 2015 edition of the same journal.

Haney’s papers outline a new method for determining a safe level of hexavalent chromium exposure in groundwater using data from laboratory animals. Chromium is a naturally occurring metal that is found in two forms in the environment, trivalent chromium and hexavalent chromium. Trivalent chromium is essential for life and can be found in food and multivitamins; however hexavalent chromium is toxic and is used in chrome plating (car bumpers, wheels, etc). Once released into the environment, hexavalent chromium can be naturally converted to trivalent chromium, but the conversion process can be very slow. The federal drinking water standard for chromium is set for total chromium, trivalent chromium plus hexavalent chromium. Groundwater contamination from hexavalent chromium is a problem at various localized sites in Texas and the rest of the country. The good news for Texans and the rest of the country is that Haney’s work shows the federal drinking water standard for chromium protects health.

The list of 2016 awards by the Society of Toxicology can be found here .